and bit down on her lower lip.
I couldn’t stop my laughter as I leaned in a little closer and placed a soft kiss to her lips. I couldn’t picture Liv being so-called violent. The girl was too damn sweet, but something told me if the time came to lay shit all out, she wouldn’t hesitate.
I also understood there were still so many things we both had to learn about the other, but I knew I wanted that. For the first time in my life I was content. I had the one girl that made my heart race, yet she calmed me as well. Olivia was the best of both and I wanted more. I wanted to experience everything she was willing to give, because she gave me hope that life could be better than the things I had experienced. I wanted her to show me what it felt like to have that kind of happiness every day.
Since Friday I’d walked around with a hollow feeling in my chest. I allowed myself to believe I had screwed this up.
Those feelings and thoughts ate at me for days.
I didn’t like that.
“I’m sorry for everything,” I whispered. Trailing my thumb along her cheek, I brushed back the hair from her face. “I should have told you about everything in my past; I just didn’t want you to look at me and see that. I wanted you to see me for the guy I am now.”
“I do,” she replied. “And nothing that you told me will change that. If anything it only made me see just how strong you truly are and the determination you have to succeed.”
“Can you leave now?” she asked.
“Yeah.” I lightly skimmed over her lower lip with my thumb. “Technically, it’s my day off.”
“Let’s go get some ice cream.” She grinned when I wrinkled my brows and looked at her with a confused expression.
She shrugged. “What? It sounds good. Ice cream always makes things better.”
Chapter Nineteen
Olivia
If I’d learned anything from losing my mother and then my grandpa, it was that we just never know when we might lose the chance to make more memories, so I didn’t waste valuable time over things I couldn’t change. Those memories have a way of outweighing all the little things.
Now that my mother was gone, I didn’t find myself sitting around thinking of those times she told me no, or even forced me to do the things I hated.
No, what I did think about were those nights she and I would lay outside under the stars and just talk. Or those mornings she would wake me long before my dad was up to make a heaping pile of chocolate chip pancakes. Those were the memories worth having.
So that is what I did. I pulled Keeton Pearce into my world.
I chose to let go of the anger I felt over the snag we had stumbled over. I understood why he held back regarding his past. And now I knew he didn’t willingly share it with Lacy; she was just at the right place at the wrong time. Or the right time, however you wanted to look at it. If she hadn’t been there to call the cops that night Keeton’s brother showed up, who knew what would have happened?
That was something I couldn’t allow myself to imagine.
I decided to share with him things I had grown up loving, things he should have been given the chance to enjoy but had been selfishly taken from him.
He came home from work one night to find me on his back deck, with dinner spread out before me. We had to eat on a blanket on the ground because he had no outside furniture, but we compromised and it was perfect. We ate under the stars and talked until well after midnight.
That peaceful feeling reminded me of those nights with my momma under the stars.
And then there was the night he woke up to find me standing over him with a water soaker, fully loaded and ready to strike. He just looked up at me with eyes droopy from sleep and smiled. “Game on, baby.” He spoke the words with a smile tugging at his lips. Before I could register just what he meant, he moved lightning fast and I squealed. He hooked my waist and threw me over his shoulder, carrying
I couldn’t stop my laughter as I leaned in a little closer and placed a soft kiss to her lips. I couldn’t picture Liv being so-called violent. The girl was too damn sweet, but something told me if the time came to lay shit all out, she wouldn’t hesitate.
I also understood there were still so many things we both had to learn about the other, but I knew I wanted that. For the first time in my life I was content. I had the one girl that made my heart race, yet she calmed me as well. Olivia was the best of both and I wanted more. I wanted to experience everything she was willing to give, because she gave me hope that life could be better than the things I had experienced. I wanted her to show me what it felt like to have that kind of happiness every day.
Since Friday I’d walked around with a hollow feeling in my chest. I allowed myself to believe I had screwed this up.
Those feelings and thoughts ate at me for days.
I didn’t like that.
“I’m sorry for everything,” I whispered. Trailing my thumb along her cheek, I brushed back the hair from her face. “I should have told you about everything in my past; I just didn’t want you to look at me and see that. I wanted you to see me for the guy I am now.”
“I do,” she replied. “And nothing that you told me will change that. If anything it only made me see just how strong you truly are and the determination you have to succeed.”
“Can you leave now?” she asked.
“Yeah.” I lightly skimmed over her lower lip with my thumb. “Technically, it’s my day off.”
“Let’s go get some ice cream.” She grinned when I wrinkled my brows and looked at her with a confused expression.
She shrugged. “What? It sounds good. Ice cream always makes things better.”
Chapter Nineteen
Olivia
If I’d learned anything from losing my mother and then my grandpa, it was that we just never know when we might lose the chance to make more memories, so I didn’t waste valuable time over things I couldn’t change. Those memories have a way of outweighing all the little things.
Now that my mother was gone, I didn’t find myself sitting around thinking of those times she told me no, or even forced me to do the things I hated.
No, what I did think about were those nights she and I would lay outside under the stars and just talk. Or those mornings she would wake me long before my dad was up to make a heaping pile of chocolate chip pancakes. Those were the memories worth having.
So that is what I did. I pulled Keeton Pearce into my world.
I chose to let go of the anger I felt over the snag we had stumbled over. I understood why he held back regarding his past. And now I knew he didn’t willingly share it with Lacy; she was just at the right place at the wrong time. Or the right time, however you wanted to look at it. If she hadn’t been there to call the cops that night Keeton’s brother showed up, who knew what would have happened?
That was something I couldn’t allow myself to imagine.
I decided to share with him things I had grown up loving, things he should have been given the chance to enjoy but had been selfishly taken from him.
He came home from work one night to find me on his back deck, with dinner spread out before me. We had to eat on a blanket on the ground because he had no outside furniture, but we compromised and it was perfect. We ate under the stars and talked until well after midnight.
That peaceful feeling reminded me of those nights with my momma under the stars.
And then there was the night he woke up to find me standing over him with a water soaker, fully loaded and ready to strike. He just looked up at me with eyes droopy from sleep and smiled. “Game on, baby.” He spoke the words with a smile tugging at his lips. Before I could register just what he meant, he moved lightning fast and I squealed. He hooked my waist and threw me over his shoulder, carrying
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